Tag Archives: OD

Jamaican educator-advocate Verene A. Shepherd, OD, FCCS, BA, MPhil, PhD, was elected to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Kingston, JA, June 30, 2015: Professor Verene A. Shepherd, OD, FCCS, BA, MPhil (UWI), PhD (Cantab), highly respected Jamaican academic, author, historian, and human rights advocate, was elected to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Thursday, June 25, 2015. She will serve a four-year term from 2016 to 2020. Dr. Shepherd’s election took place during the 26th Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which was held in New York.

The Jamaican Flag.

“Her victory is a tribute to her longstanding engagement in efforts to eliminate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance over the globe,“ said Senator the Honourable Arnold J. Nicholson, QC, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. “The international community was impressed with her work as a member and chair, 2011 to 2014, of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent where she was involved in helping to craft the program for the International Year for People of African Descent and the Program of Activities for the International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015-2024.”

Dr. Shepherd will be the first national of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to serve on the CERD. She was elected along with candidates from Burkina Faso, China-Colombia, Guatemala, Mauritania, Russia, Spain and the United States of America. Coming on the heels of Jamaica’s recent successful bids to the International Court of Justice, The UN International Civil Service Commission, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Minister Nicholson noted that Dr.Shepherd would join a long list of Jamaican nationals who have distinguished themselves in the international arena..–OnPointPress.net.